When I am downloading something, this comes up. I guess it would mean that the download is in progress or something but it seems a little unexpected to have that there. Is it something that you'd say out loud for something else that is progressing or would it be exclusively for digital progressions?

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    I would write an answer, but now I'm 食事中, so you have to check the dictionary. – macraf Feb 20 '16 at 9:44
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    omg guys you don't need to be mean, I have of course looked in a dictionary. I just expected that there would be some kind of other element to it and not just attaching it to the end of something. It's mainly a question about the grammatical usage of 中 in this situation and how it could be used in other similar things and I guess I get the idea now thanks to the first comment. – user13622 Feb 20 '16 at 9:52
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    @Earthliŋ I also found this question: japanese.stackexchange.com/q/5369/1478 Maybe either 5369 or 2790 should be closed as a duplicate of the other? – snailplane Feb 20 '16 at 11:22
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    @user13622 You're right, my tone was out-of-place, especially for a "first post". For this question (or for next time), if you looked in a dictionary or did anything else, please do include what you found in your question. We do get a lot of requests like "what does this mean [Japanese sentence]" from people that haven't looked in a dictionary, even from people that don't speak any Japanese... – Earthliŋ Feb 20 '16 at 11:27
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    I understand! Thank-you, I'll explain my next question better – user13622 Feb 20 '16 at 11:28

The kanji 中 on the end as a kind of suffix generally has two different meanings, depending on context and how it's read.

  • When read as ちゅう: "in the middle of doing; in the state of being", as in l'électeur's examples.
  • When read as じゅう: "all over, throughout; sometime during", as in 体{からだ}中{じゅう} "all over the body, all throughout the body" or 今日{きょう}中{じゅう} "sometime during today".
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「～～[中]{ちゅう}」 = "~~ in progress", "~~ in session", "in the middle of ~~", etc.

"We Are Open!"

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"Under Construction"

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